Maths Bastard

Your turn

Maths Bastard is a game: the lower row of six tiles is yours, and the upper row belongs to Maths Bastard. On your turn, you select two tiles to swap. The Maths Bastard must then make a more complicated move: it must move all six of its tiles, by swapping them in three pairs.

You must use your turns to shuffle your cards around, eventually returning them to their original order. Once your tiles are back in order, Maths Bastard gets one more turn. If it can get its cards back in order on that turn, Maths Bastard wins. If not, you win. You also win if Maths Bastard puts its cards back in order before you do.

Try to plan your moves so that Maths Bastard can't get its tiles back in order straight after you. Note for example that Maths Bastard has to move all six of its tiles to different positions every turn. So if it has one tile in the correct position as you make your final move, it will be unable to win. Try not to simply perform a set of swaps and then undo them, because Maths Bastard will simply undo each of its moves. If you don't make more complex moves you can't win.

Additional Rules:

• Maths Bastard is not allowed to simply repeat the same move again and again. In fact it will only repeat a previous move if you do. (The same move here means moving the cards in the same positions, not the same numbered cards.)
• If you select a tile and change your mind, click/tap it again to undelect it.

If you have any questions, comments or thoughts about how Maths Bastard works or about the use of mild profanity in the names of maths toys, please use the Google Form below to share them.